Standalone battery chargers (also referred to herein as charging devices) are widely used to charge rechargeable batteries such as those used in mobile communications devices. Non-limiting examples of mobile communication devices may include mobile or portable radios, mobile computing devices, smartphones or personal digital assistants (PDA). These standalone charging devices may be used in remote locations and may not have wired or wireless connections to other computing devices. The battery charging functions in these charging devices are typically controlled by a micro-controller based hardware circuitry with factory-installed firmware (i.e., a persistent memory that stores program code and data). Information stored in memory used by factory-installed firmware may typically be permanently installed and cannot be changed easily after manufacture. As a result, once the charging devices are deployed for use, the firmware within the charging device used to operate/control its functionality cannot be conveniently updated.
When a charging device is deployed for use in a remote location (i.e., outside of a manufacturing or service center), the firmware may need to be updated to fix errors and/or to add new features to the charging device. Typically, the charging device may have to be sent to a factory/service center or a technician may be sent to the location where the charging device is deployed to physically change or reprogram the memory associated with the firmware. Consider an example where there is a new requirement as to how data is to be secured by the firmware, a new requirement as to how the charging device is to safely operate, or a new feature to support multiple battery chemistries in a single charging device. To update the firmware used in the charging device to support the new requirements/features, a trained technician will have to visit the remote site where one or more charging devices are located and update each charging device individually or each charging device will have to be taken out of service and sent to a service center for the updates to made to the firmware. Whether or not the firmware is updated by a technician at a remote site or in a service center, the updating process involves disassembling each charging device to be updated, updating the firmware with specialized tools and reassembling the charging device. This updating process is costly and may result in a charging device being out of service for an extended time period while its firmware is being updated.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus and method for updating a remote standalone firmware.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.